# CVE-2018-4051: Privilege escalation in GOG Galaxy

> A local attacker can escalate privileges by exploiting insecure directory permissions in the GOG Galaxy privileged helper tool on macOS.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 2 Apr 2019
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-hhmf-h6c6-m327

## What is CVE-2018-4051?

CVE-2018-4051 is a high-severity vulnerability in GOG.COM GOG Galaxy, published on 2 Apr 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An exploitable local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the privileged helper tool of GOG Galaxy's Games, version 1.2.47 for macOS. An attacker can globally create directories and subdirectories on the root file system, as well as change the permissions of existing directories.

Weakness: CWE-732 (Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-4051?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Gog Galaxy.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-4051?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-4051 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-4051 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-4051 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in GOG.COM GOG Galaxy

- [CVE-2018-4048](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-4048/): Privilege escalation in GOG Galaxy (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2018-3974](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-3974/): Privilege escalation in GOG Galaxy (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2018-4049](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-4049/): Privilege escalation in GOG Galaxy (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2020-7352](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7352/): GOG Galaxy GalaxyClientService Privilege Escalation (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2022-31262](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-31262/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-4051 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-4051 is a high-severity vulnerability in GOG.COM GOG Galaxy, published on 2 Apr 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-4051 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: GOG.COM GOG Galaxy. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-4051/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-4051/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-4051
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-4051
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-4051

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-4051/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.